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Founder Salaries — Get Off Your High Horse Young Founder

Recently, there have been several articles and discussions around the topic of founder salaries. Here’s one such discussion.

There seems to be two opposing forces, young founders and old founders. Old meaning, anyone over the age of 30 and has any sort of financial responsibility in their life.

I fit into the old category.

Here’s how I feel — the younger founders can kiss my ass.

You’re no martyr for taking less.

I take a salary of $70,000 per year and I struggle just as much as a 20-year old taking $30,000 per year. Just like you, I drive a shitty car with 180k miles on it. I haven’t purchased new clothes in over two years. I don’t eat out, go to movies, take exotic vacations or buy any luxury items. I struggle, just like you.

Here’s the deal young founder, the difference between you and me is our burn rate. You can survive on less, yet maintain the same lifestyle as me. Does that make you a more committed entrepreneur? Hell, no. I was that way once. And one day, you’ll be where I am.

“Well, older founders should be better off financially and have a nest egg to offset a lower salary.”

Wouldn’t that be nice. Problem with that theory is that I’ve been an on-and-off entrepreneur all of my career, therefore, I’ve always had to “make enough to cover the burn”. Not everyone over the age of 30 has had a big exit.

“If you’re married, you have two incomes.”

True, unless you have kids. In which case, you either pay for daycare or one of you stays home. Depending on your spouses salary, and the number of kids, you’re better off staying home.

“You should wait to have a family until you’re in a better position financially”

Life moves fast, kid. Entrepreneurship is an unpredictable path. If you wait until the time is right, it may never be right.

“Maybe you’re no longer fit to be an entrepreneur”

As a fellow entrepreneur, you know that’s not an option. But, fair enough, you do what you have to do to survive. I’ve had to work for many companies in my career, even though I have felt like I was cheating on myself.

Someday, young founder,  you’ll understand. In the meantime though, you can kiss my ass — again.

    • I’m sorry to hear that. We’re trying to create open forum, allowing people to share, rant, ask, answer with whatever their view may be. Rather than leave, I’d love for you to contribute a story with an opposing view.

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      • I think you guys should give people the option to signup so they can get notifications when someone replays to them.. People can signup and still post anonymously or choose a nick name (less boring IMO).

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      • With all due to respect, this post in my view marginalizes the site’s ability to operate as an open forum by convincing others NOT to be vulnerable in their posts due to this author’s tone and perspective. This is a site about startup struggles (or so I thought); not hate talk. There’s enough stress and judgment in startups as it is. Is this really necessary?

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  • “I don’t eat out, go to movies, take exotic vacations or buy any luxury items. I struggle, just like you.” – that’s a lifestyle choice, nothing to do with age, kids or work pressure. There is always a way around these if you really want to do it.

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  • If you’re struggling on 70k/yr with kids, remind me never to invest in a company you start.

    Why are young founders so smug? Because unlike those post-30 somethings during the .com boom, you don’t get funding just for knowing how to put something up on a .com. Competition is fierce. Just look at the degrees you can get today compared to 10 years ago (when you all were a young founder).

    Perhaps you’re struggling with a 70k/yr salary today and haven’t had that big exit because you never did figure out why it was so important to learn to struggle on half that before.

    This is coming from a founder who had struggled on 30k/yr for years (two kids) so I could be in a position where that wasn’t going to be an issue moving forward.

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  • wow. people. its just another opinion. no biggie. makes the site richer. jeez. i found the post quite good actually. a different perspective. hell I am 40plus and still a founder. some failure and some success…love all the different posts in here….could never say one is more valid than another…its the diversity that makes this site richer and richer!

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  • I suggest we have some sort of moderation or voting system so we would have quality posts (think Medium/Hacker News). This is pure mumbo jumbo, ad hominem hate talk. The bold line is pointless.

    Age is just a number 😉

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  • the market doesn’t care about your age, burn or wage… you have to make up the difference in money you take out of the business somehow…

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    • This is the first post I’ve read on this site and have to admit to being quite surprised about some of the comments. The person who wrote it obviously has had some kind of negative experience. I find myself in a similar boat. Having contracted for years before finding my ‘big idea’ you get your car, mortgage, kids etc. Most of those things you cant just instantly reduce in terms of burn. So you dont follow that dream? Of course you do.

      If you are in a startup, whoever is involved takes enough to cover burn (if you are taking more you’d either better be in profit or be damn valuable). If you have someone who needs 30k, thats what they take. If you have someone who needs 70k thats what they take. If you are arguing over amounts at this stage your company is probably not going to make it. Founder disputes are the 2nd biggest reason companies fail (behind having no valid value proposition that can be delivered at reasonable economics).

      Focus on your business. If there is too much noise you are probably doing something wrong.

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